A Bell-Boeing CV-22 Osprey sustained damage in flight when its engines unexpectedly sucked in ice, according to the government program office at Naval Air Systems Command. Based on an initial assessment, it appears that first-stage compressor fan blades and possibly other parts in the aircraft's two engines will need replacing, NAVAIR spokesman James Darcy said Oct. 25. The incident was categorized as a Class C mishap, meaning the cost of repairs is estimated at more than $20,000 but not more than $200,000.
A lack of "funding flexibility" is one of the biggest challenges facing the Defense Department's advanced technology efforts, according to Navy acquisition executive John Young, nominated to become the next Director of Defense Research and Engineering.
President Bush has tapped a federal prosecutor spearheading a government-wide anti-procurement fraud group to take the No. 2 position at the Justice Department. The White House announced Oct. 21 that Paul McNulty, currently U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was nominated to be deputy attorney general and will take on those responsibilities in an acting role until the Senate confirms him for the deputy post. McNulty will continue to head the Northern Virginia prosecutor's office in the meantime.
Northrop Grumman reported third-quarter net income of $293 million, up from $278 million in 2004, but said Hurricane Katrina hurt the results for its Ship Systems business. Third-quarter income from continuing operations was $288 million, down from 2004's $291 million, and sales were unchanged at $7.4 billion. The hurricane damaged some company facilities on the Gulf Coast and reduced Ship Systems' operating margin by $165 million, the company said Oct. 25.
Troubled Czech aircraft maker Aero Vodochody said it plans to deliver formed sheet metal aluminum components, including a cable duct, for Arianespace's Ariane 5 launch vehicle, a new market for the company. The parts, to be delivered to Germany's MT Aerospace of Augsberg, will be installed in one of the Ariane 5's segments.
The next likely top U.S. Navy acquisition official told senators Oct. 25 that, if confirmed, she would press for maturing technology and disciplining software development before inserting them into shipbuilding programs to try to stem rising costs.
No team won the prizes in NASA and the Spaceward Foundation's 2005 Beam Power Challenge and Tether Challenge, but "historic firsts were achieved," NASA said Oct. 25. The contests were held at NASA's Ames Research Center, Calif., over the Oct. 22 weekend, with 11 teams participating. In the Beam Power Challenge, teams had to build robotic climbers that could scale a 200-foot cable powered only by the beam from an industrial searchlight. The contest had a $50,000 prize, but no team was able to claim it.
Ducommun AeroStructures will produce AH-64 Apache helicopter main rotor blades under contract to Boeing, the company said Oct. 25. The blades, which will be built under follow-on orders worth about $49 million, can be used as original equipment or replacement blades, the company said. The company, which has built every Apache rotor blade since the program began, said the order will extend deliveries into 2007. The work will be done at its Monrovia, Calif.
More than a rising China or global terrorists, achieving a "flexible, adaptable" U.S. military organization will be the biggest challenge to U.S. national security over the next several years, Rep. William "Mac" Thornberry (R-Texas) said Oct. 25. Speaking at the Defense News Joint Warfare Conference 2005 in Arlington, Va., the congressman - a member of the House Armed Services and Select Intelligence committees - told an audience that the national security structure's transformation must protect innovators and contrarians as much as promote jointness.
Future Combat Systems lead systems integrator Boeing and ground sensor integrator Raytheon plan to release a series of requests for proposals in November and December 2005 covering various sensors for manned and unmanned FCS ground vehicles. The sensors will be the Short-Range Electro-Optics/Infrared (SREO) sensor, the Acoustic Locating Array Sensor, the EO/ISR Mission Payload for the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) and the Mine Detection Sensor for SUGV. Raytheon will manage the procurement.
PRAGUE - Evidence of growing interest in the Czech Republic as a center for maintenance, repair and overhaul activities in central Europe emerged this week as Czech companies provided details of two planned multi-million dollar MRO facilities.
EADS' American Eurocopter said Oct. 25 that Lockheed Martin Corp. has subcontracted to it to re-engine and upgrade the U.S. Coast Guard's HH-65 Dolphin helicopter fleet under the Deepwater recapitalization program. American Eurocopter is to convert 11 helicopters to the upgraded HH-65C version at the company's Columbus, Miss., facility, by late 2006. The subcontract also contains an option for upgrading six additional HH-65s. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are teamed in a joint venture responsible for major subcontracting for the Deepwater program.
Lockheed Martin reported a 39 percent increase in third-quarter net earnings, which reached $427 million, driven partly by single-digit percentage growth in the aeronautics and information technology sectors and double-digit percentage growth for space systems. The company's year-to-date earnings were up 41 percent to $1.3 billion. Third-quarter earnings per share were up 39 percent to 96 cents, and earnings-per-share for the first nine months of the year were up 41 percent to $2.81, the company reported Oct. 25.
NEW JOB: Former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency official Lisa J. Porter has been named associate administrator in charge of NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate. Porter had been serving as Administrator Michael Griffin's senior adviser for aeronautics, presiding over a restructuring of the agency's aeronautics research portfolio that will be reflected in the upcoming fiscal 2007 budget request.
SIGHT REPAIR: Kollsman Inc. will repair telescopic sight units on AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters under a $14 million delivery order under a previously awarded contract, the U.S. Department of Defense said Oct. 24. The work will be performed in Merrimack, N.H., and is expected to be completed by December 2006. The company is only one of two sources approved to repair the sight units, the DOD said.
Columbia Helicopters of Portland, Ore., is buying eight retired Vertol CH-113 Labrador helicopters from the government of Canada, the company said. The Labradors, which had been used for search and rescue missions, will join 15 others in Columbia's fleet of heavy-lift helicopters. The first three already have arrived, the company said Oct. 20. The company also operates Vertol 107-II and Model 234 Chinook helicopters for its logging, construction, fire-fighting and oil exploration support work.
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has taken delivery of the first revamped U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopter and UH-1Y Huey utility helicopter. The aircraft are destined for Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., to begin operational evaluation training, according to Textron's Bell Helicopter. Navair said over the summer that pilots and aircrew were already training for the review (DAILY, Aug. 10).
The U.S. Army plans to deploy a partial version of Northrop Grumman's Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar system at eight forward operating bases in Iraq. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the C-RAM. Under a $38 million contract awarded in August, the company first will deploy a mortar-attack warning capability.
READY TO GO: DIRECTV's Spaceway 2 satellite has been fueled at the European Spaceport in French Guiana, one of the final steps in the preparation for its upcoming Ariane 5 launch, Arianespace said Oct. 24. The 5,990-kilogram (13,200-pound) Spaceway 2 is to be dual-launched with PT Telkom Indonesia's 1,930-kilogram (4,246-pound) Telkom 2 satellite on Arianespace's heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA. The launch is set for Nov. 9.
